The Christmas Baking Has Begun

Well every year I say that I am going to do a wonderful baked good tin to go along with Christmas cards for my co-workers and friends, and can you believe it that every year I never follow through! I will do one batch here and there but nothing like the vision that I create in my head! I told myself I would actually do it this year and I intend to!! My plan is to do a couple different cookie for the next few days and then I can put together tins and freeze any left overs for Santa and Christmas day!

I started out with a recipe I found in Taste of Home Cookies & Bars magazine I picked up on our last Lowes trip.

Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies
1/2 cup butter softened
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups chopped toasted pecans
Carmel Drizzle
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Chocolate Drizzle
1 ounce semi sweet chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

1. In a large bowl cream the butter and brown sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

2. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in pecans. Place on ungreased sheet for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

3. in a small saucepan bring brown sugar and cream to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in confectioners sugar. Immediately drizzle over cooled cookies

4. In a mall microwave-safe bowl melt the chocolate and butter, stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies and let stand until set. Store in air tight container.

Here is the dough balls... rolled in pecans then pressed down slightly


Here are the naked cookies after baking and cooling...


Heating the carmel topping on the stove


The cookies with the carmel topping drizzled over them...


And the finished product... cookies with chocolate and carmel topping!




Tada... the first cookies for the tins are complete! Stay tuned, more to come!

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Jack-O-Lantern Cuppies!

As I was driving home the other day I got this great idea for a Halloween cupcake that I had never seen before. I got the idea of carving a cupcake just like you would a pumpkin! Fill the pumpkin with yellow frosting a.k.a the candle light! and then draw the face on the front. So I decided to try it out. I grabbed a box yellow cake mix and added some food coloring to get an orange color. I then cut into the top to carve out the center. I filled it with yellow icing and then put the top on. I placed a piece of pretzel in for the stem and then proceeded to draw on the jack-o-lantern face!


Now not every single one turned out like my vision I must say! So I experimented with the decorating just for fun! I also added some orange sparkles to the tops of some of the jack-o-lanterns and that gave them that extra something that they seemed to be missing!

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Hamburger Cupcakes... Yes I too made them!

Well when I came across the hamburger cupcakes on Bakerella and Flicker I just knew that I had to try them out. They are so cute and fun! So I decided to do just that! I just used cake mix and a brownie mix as it was quick and easy!

I started by making the brownies and letting them cool. While the brownies were cooling I made the cupcakes. Once the cupcakes had cooled I cut them open and started to make the hamburgers! I used green frosting for the lettuce and then red and yellow for the ketchup and mustard.




After I had the burgers made I did slightly tap a cloth with water on it on the top of the cupcake and shake on some sesame seeds



I then took Bakerella's idea and made sugar cookie french french fries to complete the dessert!!



I took the extra brownie bits and cut them into bite size pieces and served them on a plate. The extra cup cakes I frosted and put out on a plate. I planned to just use the extra frosting and make them Halloween-ish however I feel they look more like Marti graw! haha OH WELL!


Maximus begged me to let him help but he had to sit this one out! He was not thrilled about it either! LOL


Here they are just one more time!! Soooo Cute!! Thanks for the idea Bakerella!!

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OMG

OMG... I just had to change my about me from "Hi I'm 25 years old to... Hi I'm 27 years old" EEEKKKKK OK OK so I do not turn the big 2 7 till tomorrow but I thought I would just prep ahead of time.

This is just insane. I know I had taken a break from the blogging for about a year but it seriously felt as if it was 6 months! How does the time fly so fast the older we get? My Mom always said that when I was growing up but I just figured she was old and didn't know what she was talking about! (sorry mom!) But the older I get I realize that my Mom was right about... like EVERYTHING she used to preach to me that went in one ear and out the other!

Oh the things we learn as we grow! I love you Mom! Thank you for being my mom and having me! I know I have been freaking out about this birthday but I am just glad that I have you and glad that I have a birthday at all. YOU ARE THE BEST!

(Ok... sorry for the mom love shout out... but it's my birthday... so be nice :))

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I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts!

hahahaha... so we cracked open a coconut this morning and all I could think about was that song... there they are a standing in a row. Big ones small ones... some as big as your HEAD!

Ohhh it made us laugh so I thought it might make you laugh...

I got a fun idea of something to bake this weekend from Bakerella and from some Tastespotting images I saw... So be excited!!

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Stuffed Jalapenos!

Well I know this post is LONG over due! Be kind to me all... Sometimes life just gets to be soooo over whelming and finding the time to blog is hard. Not to mention having the cord to my camera being lost for about 6 months... SO I took these pics with my phone so bare with me on the quality! I know that summer is coming to an end but fall is still a great time to BBQ and this is a wonderful starter item that can easily be done on the grill or in the oven!!

Jason and I are just addicted to these starters that sometimes this what we have for the whole meal because we fill up on these babies!

Stuffed Jalepenos
Jalepenos
Cream cheese (not the whipped kind... trust me that stuff just bakes right out and disapears)
Bacon

So the first step is the most work and the worst! I do not know if it is the oil from the peppers or what but when I cut these open I gag my throat burns my skin burns and itches everywhere it is like an alergic reaction. I mean it could be... who knows... so back the my point! The first step is to cut the pepper open and gut them ( take out allt he seeds) Now I have tried this numerous ways but I think doing a half pepper works the best. So as you can see in the pic below I have gutted the pepper and filled the half pepper with cream cheese and am now preparing to wrap it in bacon!

Again as I said please forgive the quality! I do have the camera cord (it's some where around here....right?) so these pictures were taken a little while ago so yes they are grainy and bad lol

next step is to place a toothpick in the pepper to hold the bacon in place so that when the pepper cooks the bacon holds the lovely cheese filling in.



I decided to bake these. I placed a cookie sheet down then wrapped it in foil. I then placed a rack that you use to cool cookies on and put the peppers on the rack... this way while they cook the fat that drains off will go below and peppers will not sit in it. When they are done you just let the grease cool on the foil, take the foil off and throw it out! It makes clean up a breeze!



I also decided to bake because you get much more even cooking. With the grill you have to have a lot of time to watch so that the bacon does not start to burn or cook faster then pepper is cooking. If the pepper is not cooked enough it does not get soft and it can be sooo spicy that sme people can't handle eating it. Once the bacon is done and going to have a crispyness to it take them out and serve!! The hardest part is going to be waiting for these to cool long enough before you start to eat them!! Trust me it is worth the waiting cause burning your tounge is the pitts!



Ta Da!! There they are... with the big bowl of pineapple we were eating as well in the background! So I have missed you all (I mean I hope I still have readers....YIKES)

I hope everyone is doing well and with fall around the corner it is the prefect time to bake! SO be prepared for all the sweet treats to come.

Sinfully yours,

Heather

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